FORTE is a very fast and flexible High-Speed USB In-Circuit Serial Programmer for a wide range of popular components — microcontrollers, serial EEPROM and Flash memory chips, CPLDs, etc. FORTE is equipped with effective over-current and over-voltage protection. The programmer is powered from USB and it is able to provide the supply voltage for the programmed device in range from 1.8V to 5.5V, or it can work with externally powered targets. Software for FORTE works under Windows XP/Vista/7 (both 32- and 64-bit versions) as well as under Linux (using Wine).

High-Speed USB In-Circuit Programmer Features

Very fast programmer (30 MHz out, 15 MHz in/out)

Controlled and powered by USB 2.0 High Speed (480 Mbps)

Embedded processor for fast execution of complex operations

Both synchronous and asynchronous programming algorithms supported; JTAG support

Supported voltage range 1.8V to 5.5V without any additional accessories

Comparison to PRESTO

In comparison with the PRESTO programmer, the FORTE has a 480Mbps USB 2.0 High-Speed interface, and it includes an embedded processor (FPGA) which allows it to perform complex operations that significantly increase performance. Devices can be programmed close to their maximum speed. The FORTE also supports asynchronous algorithms and has four more input/output pins, which allows it to program more devices (however, some obsolete PIC devices are not supported by FORTE but are by PRESTO). The FORTE does not require level shifters for devices of specific voltage, and its over-current protection is built in, so it reacts much faster than the software-driven protection of the PRESTO. There is better ESD protection on the FORTE, plus faster, controlled voltage discharge. The FORTE also provides better error indication, as one of its status LEDs is bi-color.

FORTE Supported Devices

Hundreds of devices are supported by the included UP software, and the list grows with every software update: